Be More Like Me

The days following the loss of her and Chimera's children had broken the ash and snow woman more than anything else had in her life. Being enslaved hadn't broken her spirits like this had. Being raped and attacked by her owners hadn't crushed her like this had. Aliana didn't know how to recover from this—or if she ever would. Her days were spent in bed, drifting in and out of depressed sleep and wishing death would come and take her like it had taken her pups. It never did; Death left her stuck in limbo, her own personal hell where everything hurt and reminded her of her mistakes and failures. She hadn't tended to her gardens, hadn't been in her study, hadn't done anything without Chimera's pushing. The clouded fae had become a ghost of her former self, devoid of all will to live.

On day number... whatever the hell it was following the incident, Ali had been sulking and mourning in bed as usual when Chimera came and dropped Cerberus off. He needed to tend to some things with Viper, and Siren was unavailable. Ali knew he wouldn't have come to ask her to pupsit if she wasn't the last possible option right now, so she wordlessly and reluctantly agreed. She and Cerberus hadn't spent any time together just the two of them. He had always been around Chimera and she happened to be there as well, the monochromatic brute the nexus between them. It was a shame he would have to see her like this, wallowing and hollow.

While the two of them hung out in the quiet, dark bedchamber, Ali's aqua eyes glanced over to young Cerberus. He had grown a good deal since his birth, and appeared to be healthy and (decently) happy. As a healer, she was pleased. But as a brokenhearted almost mother, she couldn't help but look at him and wonder if any of her own children would have been like him. Not in coloration, naturally, but in presence and personality. Neither wolf spoke, and at some point during her musing, Aliana felt Cerberus come closer to lie beside her on the bedding. She turned her head to look at the boy with a bit of surprise, his gentle affection surprising her and making her heart jump. Gods, how she wished she could have had her own children beside her now. But somehow, Cerberus made it feel... better.

"You're growing so fast..." Aliana spoke softly, her voice a little rough from lack of use. "It doesn't seem that long ago, you were no bigger than a stone." With the way he was growing, Ali guessed he'd be as big as his father, if not close to it once he'd grown up. She just hoped Viper was taking care of him and knew how much of a blessing she had having him in her life.

"Aliana"